Alps, Mad Scientists and Suffragettes

12/07/2024

Vanessa Romero (she/her) discusses Switzerland in Film

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Image by IMDb

By Vanessa Romero

While America maintains a dominant position in the film industry, with English-speaking films consistently topping global box office charts, the influence of non-English films on cinematic canon and theory cannot be overlooked. Central European movements like German expressionist cinema, Italian neorealism, and French New Wave have left indelible marks on film history. Yet, in the middle of these big cinematic players, Switzerland is often overlooked as a producer and film subject.

The question of what counts as a Swiss film is certainly not straightforward. What does a film need to have to count as Swiss? Does it need to be included as a country of production like in the Irish war drama The Wind that Shakes the Barley (2006) or does it need a Swiss director like Marc Foster’s apocalyptic World War Z (2013)? A Swiss producer like The Garden of the Finzi-Continis (1970) - a film set in fascist Italy produced by Arthur Cohn)? A Swiss subject like Heidi (1937) starring Shirley Temple? A Swiss actor like Downfall (2004) with Bruno Ganz playing Adolf Hitler or Swiss designer like H.R. Giger’s iconic special effects in Alien (1979)?

It would be logical for a Swiss film to contribute to Swiss cultural production, either to promote Switzerland as a film-producing hub or to influence perceptions of it as a nation. Alternatively, one could argue that the iconic British institution of James Bond could be seen as partially Swiss, given its frequent use of Swiss settings, direction by a Swiss filmmaker, use of Swiss actors, and notably featuring half-Swiss James Bond, whose mother hails from Canton Vaud in Ian Fleming’s novel.

Additionally, the linguistic situation in Switzerland comes with representational issues. With four distinct language areas – German, French, Italian, and the minority language Romansh, spoken by just 0.5 percent of the population – there’s a complex interplay of linguistic identities. While many Swiss citizens are bilingual, not all are sufficiently proficient and may perceive other languages as foreign, necessitating subtitles. Therefore, regardless of the language chosen for a film, some of the Swiss population will feel disconnected. This raises the question of whether a distinct Swiss film identity truly exists or if it’s more apt to discuss films originating from each region, highlighting their unique characteristics. The comedy Bon Schuur Ticino (2023) highlights this complex linguistic situation. It follows a German-speaking police officer who must dismantle a resistance group in the Italian-speaking canton Ticino after the Swiss population decides that French should be the only national language.

Another issue is the variety of German spoken in films set in Switzerland. The spoken everyday language is Swiss German, which encompasses Alemannic dialects and lacks standardisation. Unlike Swiss Standard German, which all German speakers understand, Swiss German requires subtitles for non-speakers. Swiss Standard German is used as the written language and is only spoken during formal settings (i.e. schools or parliament). Therefore, a regional dialect would have to be spoken to make a regular conversation authentic. While most Swiss films do this, despite having to dub or subtitle their production if released in another German-speaking country, non-Swiss films often revert to Standard German, as seen in a scene where a Swiss bank is being robbed in Marvel’s The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (2021).

While defining what qualifies as a Swiss film remains challenging, Switzerland’s impact on the film industry is increasingly evident. For instance, the Swiss share custody over renowned filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard – who had Swiss heritage, citizenship and residency – with France. Godard’s Swiss connection is also evident in his films, such as in his experimental work, King Lear (1987), set in Nyon, where Godard attended primary school. Increasingly, the Swiss have started to consider Godard as one of their own. For instance, the documentary Say God Bye (2023) recently premiered, following Swiss director Thomas Imbach on a pilgrimage across Switzerland in search of his idol Godard.

Besides Godard, Switzerland has been home to many film stars. Although Charlie Chaplin and Audrey Hepburn decided to live a quiet life in Switzerland, most mentions of it in English-speaking films are flippant. Dirty money is stored in Swiss banks, kids are threatened with being sent to a Swiss boarding school, characters have been institutionalised in Swiss hospitals, or some simply invoke Switzerland’s name by cementing their neutrality (“From now on I’m Switzerland,” states a fed-up Bella Swan in Twilight Eclipse).

Switzerland is depicted as affluent, remote and scientific. Possibly inspired by the rich history of scientific research and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Switzerland has become the backdrop for unethical scientists in recent years. This yielded projects like A Dangerous Method (2011), which follows a fictionalised account of the tumultuous relationship of pioneers of psychoanalysis Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud, and the patient-turned-physician Sabina Spielrein at the Burghölzli clinic in Zurich, or psychological horror film A Cure for Wellness (2016) set in an alpine mysterious hospital. Neither of these projects were shot in Switzerland, nor do they seem too concerned with historical accuracy; rather, they use the idea of Switzerland as home to the psychological or subversive. This notion appears to be predominantly international, as few Swiss films engage in Frankensteinesque tropes.

Interest in producing a distinctive Swiss film canon, which the government supported, really began in the 1930s. The boost of Swiss film was part of a cultural movement called the Spiritual National Defence that focused on Swiss values and combatting totalitarian ideologies as a reaction to the rise of Hitler in Germany and the spread of fascism, which was also reflected in the content of the films. In the 1970s and 1980s, Swiss films really began to achieve greater commercial and international acclaim. The Swissmakers (1978), a comedy about obtaining Swiss nationality, became and remains the highest-grossing Swiss film.

In total, 51 films have been submitted for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film, two of which have won (namely Dangerous Moves (1984) and Journey of Hope (1990)). This year’s submission was the period coming-of-age drama Thunder (2022), directed by Carmen Jaquier, a personal favourite of mine. Perfect for fans of Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975) or Novitiate (2017), the film concerns itself with themes of budding sexuality, religiosity and transgressive women. After the mysterious death of her older sister Innocente, Elisabeth returns from convent school to her remote home in twentieth century southern Switzerland. As she struggles with the limited possibilities she can inhabit as a woman and the repressed nature of her family, she tries to untangle the death and secrets of her sister, leading her to a spiritual and sexual awakening. Accompanied by a powerful and eerie sound and visuals (special praise needs to be given to cinematographer Marine Atlan, who depicts the Alps of Valais in all its mighty and sublime glory), Elisabeth attempts to find sex in god and god in sex.

Another highly recommended acclaimed film is the stop-motion animation Life of a Courgette (2016). It follows a young boy who moves into a children’s home after his alcoholic mother’s accidental death. This heartwarming story explores the power of friendship in times of hardship. Themes of touching family stories and coming-of-age are also taken up in the Swiss box office hit The Awakening of Motti Wolkenbruch (2018). Titular Motti comes from an Orthodox Jewish family domiciled in Zurich, one of the largest Jewish communities in Switzerland, and instead of marrying the nice Jewish girls approved by his family, he falls in love with non-Jewish fellow university student Laura.

A lot of Swiss film focuses on Swiss history, spanning from the Swiss reformation (Zwingli (2019)) to the end of the Cold War when the so-called secret files scandal overtook Switzerland, in which it was revealed that federal authorities had mass surveilled the population to discover communist affiliations (One-Way to Moscow (2020)). Apart from stories that highlight Switzerland’s role in World War II, particularly focusing on border crossings (e.g., The Boat is Full (1981) and Akte Grüninger (2014)), other grim moments in Swiss history have been visually explored. For instance, The Foster Boy (2011) dramatises the grim history of the socalled Verdingkinder (literally translated as ‘become-a-thing-children’), Swiss children taken from their families due to poverty and placed with new families, often enduring physical and psychological abuse. Needle Park Baby (2020) has also received significant attention, based on the autobiography of a child of an addict during Zurich’s extensive open drug scene in the 1980s.

One of the most beloved films tackling a harsh reality in Swiss history is the comedy The Divine Order (2017), which centres around the Swiss suffragette movement in the 1970s. For a brief history lesson, Swiss men voted in favour of women’s rights to vote in a referendum in February 1971. Still, it was not until a 1990 ruling that women obtained complete voting rights in the last Swiss canton of Appenzell Innerrhoden. The Divine Order follows a bored house- wife who becomes swept up in the women’s liberation and sexual revolution movement and drags the women of her small village into women’s rights advocacy. Filled with witty dialogue and great performances, the film has become a great hit in Switzerland and is worth watching! (Editor’s note: On a very informal study among my Swiss friends, The Divine Order was voted the best Swiss film).

Throughout the years, films produced in Switzerland have foregrounded a rich and nuanced Swiss history, moving away from some of the tropes used by international productions. These films are diverse subjects worth seeing for anyone wanting to discover new cultures.